Shifting Shapes
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: An Embryxoc story. Two shapeshifters. Just mindless bickering or is there actually something behind it? Or is it just mindless hot sex and arguing? Created from the randomness of my mind... and by randomness, I mean hardcore random.
1. Beginning of the End

**Author's note: …** I am sooooooo sadistic to my characters. And to back it up, FAIL at science. So, if something doesn't make sense anatomically wise… just assume that it's magic. Or something.

Also know that it gets less serious and angsty as the story goes on.

Also know that this is a little clip of the ending, and that the next chapter is like... a month or something before this happens.

Also know that I haven't read the series in FOREVER… so I'm bound to make a few mistakes. I hope it doesn't say anything about my personality that I make so many Twilight fanfics…

**Summary:** An Embryxoc story. Two shapeshifters. Just mindless bickering or is there actually something behind it? Or is it just mindless hot sex and arguing?

* * *

**Shifting Shapes Part 1: The Beginning of the End**

_You_

_Embry…_

His hand is wrapped around mine.

"Look at me. Calm down. Cass, calm down."

I stared into red eyes, trying, _willing_ myself to stop shaking. I held onto the warm hand that was wrapped around mine.

_Embry…_

_Your hand is so warm…_

_It's so cold here._

"You're going to be fine! But you need to calm down!" Someone yelled at my face as those red eyes stared into mine. They were entrancing, but not calming or anything near mellow. If anything, they brought back… memories…

_That hand around mine…_

_It's keeping me here…_

It felt as if I was sinking deeper and deeper into an ice lake, cold waters engulfing my body into oblivion, sinking deeper and deeper into the black abyss.

"Cass." A different voice spoke, replacing the previous one. I was so deep, now, that I could barely hear it. New eyes stared at me though the water. Chocolate brown, soft, wet eyes stared at me. Tears were streaking down from them.

_They're so beautiful._

I could still feel his hand against mine. It felt as if I were holding onto the flat side of an iron.

"Stay with me." He begged softly.

_He's why I'm here._ I thought calmly.

"Stay with me." He repeated. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

_They're so beautiful…_

The world stopped shaking, but my vision decreased. The grip I had on that holy hand faltered. The blood seeping from my wounds increased…

I was sinking deeper into the frozen lake. Any time now I would hit the bottom, and my ice body will smash into a thousand pieces.

But I can still feel the hand wrapped so warmly around mine.

"No… no… Stay with me…" He begged and pleaded, closing his eyes to let the tears fall and cascade down my face. His forehead against mine caused me to shiver.

I hadn't realized how cold I was until I felt his forehead against mine. His heated skin against mine. His warm tears caressing my face, almost burning the skin off.

All of my senses seemed to be in overdrive- everything was either too dull to notice or screaming at my face.

_You're why I'm here…_

Another small shiver when a warm object was pressed to the side of my head. Maybe I was imagining the shivers, because he didn't notice that I wasn't dead yet.

I haven't reached the bottom yet.

The rest of my vision passed. Darkness encased my sight.

The blood spooling in the back of my throat tasted horrible. I tried to cough it up. I failed.

_I don't feel any pain… why am I dying…?_

"I'm so sorry…"

_No… I'm here because of you… I can't leave… I love…_

"_Cass…"_ He sobbed.

_You._

I couldn't feel his hand anymore.


	2. Misunderstanding

**Shifting Shapes Part 2: Misunderstanding**

_Nightmare on Elm Street_

She stood next to the giant wolf, watching as the vampires fought each other in preparation of the upcoming battle. Her eyes, trained on the battles, watched earnestly as a Cullen would fall in defeat or smirk in victory.

Pale limbs moved and blurred, flipped and exerted force. Occasionally a stray strand of sunlight would glimmer on their skin. Cocky statements were exchanged between fights, and the over confident Jasper Hale continued making comments throughout the training exercises.

The wolf at her side nudged at her hip for attention.

She ignored him.

Rosalie threw a punch at Jasper, an exchange of blows was made and finally her defeat at the end. Jasper made a comment about her fault in fighting, and Cassie smiled when Rosalie stuck her tongue out at him.

The wolf whined at her side.

She sighed, and looked at the fury creature attempting to give her the 'puppy-dog-eyes' look. Which, given his current form, was pretty darn good. "Yes?"

The gray furred creature looked over to the mind reading vampire, silently pleading for him to translate. After a moment of them just staring at each other, Edward gave in. "Cassie, he says he wants to go home. He doesn't like you being here."

"If that's the reason, then I'm still staying." She said crossing her arms, and sat down cross legged on the dirt ground. Dust rose slightly as she sat and stained her jeans, but she paid no attention. "Besides, I'm not the only human here. And _if_ anything _were_ to happen, I'd just fly off. Since I'm apparently good at that, after all." She told him, referring to a previous argument they had, and looked back at the set fights. Embry rolled his eyes and sat next to her, then laying on the ground and resting his head on her lap. She petted him behind the ears and laughed when he gave a huge sigh. "Shapeshifters are all the same."

He snorted, licked at her arm.

After another ten minutes, the Cullen's practice came to a close and everyone started to disperse. At this motion, the teenager stood and started walking over to one of the vampires. Embry nipped at her shirt as she started to walk, but she ignored him and resulted in him following her. When she was close to the vampire of her choice, she turned to the wolf and told him she'd be right back.

The gray wolf bore its fangs at the vampire, glaring at the creature.

"Jazz, we've got to talk."

"I don't think Embry approves." He said with a raised eyebrow and glancing between the two of them. The female paid no attention to the comment and instead grabbed his arm and started walking, checking over her shoulder every few seconds to make sure Embry wasn't following.

"Why didn't you call back?"

"I didn't think it was urgent. And you seem to be getting along with the… _dog_, over there."

"It's not urgent… but…"

"If it's not urgent then can't it wait until after this whole newborn business? After Bella is safe, we can talk easier." He asked, and the red head smiled slightly as she felt his powers of controlling emotions work on her.

"Remember about a month ago when we were last together?" She asked in a low whisper, glancing around at the trees to make sure they weren't listening. Cass knew that others could hear their conversation, but using code phrases didn't ease the paranoia or fear.

"Yes…? Oh god, you're not-?" He asked glancing downward, motioning between them. She cocked her own eyebrow at him confused. Realizing she didn't get it, he placed his hand over her belly.

"Oh… oh, no! No, no, no, no- nothing like _that_. I'm talking about two days before Slurpies." She explained better- or so she hoped- but expected he understood by how his shoulders stiffened and averted his gaze.

"What about it?"

"Like I said it's not urgent, but… just email back, okay?" She said softly, and crossed her arms nervously as her eyes scanned her surroundings again. Her skin began getting goose bumps from the cold, not used to being away from Embry for so long. When her gaze shifted back to Jasper, her was holding up his phone to her. "What…?"

On the screen it read: 'Embry imprinted on you.'

Her eyes widened and she stepped back, hands clasped over her mouth. "_Noooooo _no, no, no, no." The words spilled from her mouth, repeating itself over and over again. "You have to be wrong. He can't-"

A new sentence was on his screen: 'Edward told me.'

"Well… then… fuuuuck." The red head turned in place, and then walked over to a nearby tree and rested against it. "No, no, no, no…"

"Good luck." The vampire spoke as he patted her shoulder, and then walked off into the forest. The damsel in distress hit her head against the cold bark and groaned.

**

* * *

**

The red head sat on the couch nibbling on pizza, dazedly staring at the tv screen. Thoughts buzzed around her head, blinding her from watching the program she had stayed up so late to watch.

"He can't be… I have people of my kind _and_ vampires after my ass… there's no way that I'll survive…." The red head took another bite of the now cold pizza, and then jumped when a woman on the tv screamed. From the other room, she heard a soft 'thump'. A few seconds later, the bedroom door creaked open, letting a tired and worn out super-tall dude sneak into the living room 'quietly'.

"Why are you up so early…?" He asked groggily, and reached his arms around her from behind the couch. "It's, like… early."

"It's 2 in the morning, go back to bed. I'll turn the tv down… sorry for waking you."

He waved at the air, as if dismissing her apology. "I woke up because you weren't there. Is there a reason you're watching…" The man squinted at the tv for a moment. "… Freddy Cougar at 2 in the morning?"

"_Krueger. _Freddy _Krueger._"

"Whatever, same diff." He mumbled, and nipped at her ear. "You've already seen it a bazillion times anyway. Come back to bed."

"No." she said curtly, and took another bite of her pizza.

The giant shapeshifter sighed.

The female smiled to herself in victory, thinking she had won that battle. However, she was proven false when the man walked to the front of the couch and pushed her small form to the other side of the couch. "Hey!" She yelled at the push, and pouted at the male as he lay on the couch with his head on her lap. His legs easily extended past the end of the couch, but he didn't seem to mind as he snuggled into the cushions.

"Invasion of privacy, much." The red head complained, and frowned after he simply pecked her lips with his own and snuggled back into her blanket covered lap.


	3. Shrug

**Shifting Shapes Part 3: Shrug**

_Go to a Doctor, Idiot_**  
**

"Do you have any plans for after high school?"

"Um… not really. Well, I kind of have to stay with the pack, so I'll probably get a local job and figure something out from there." He said, shrugging several times as he spoke. The girl sipping on her milkshake rolled her eyes.

"Well that's specific, and _lame_ for a seventeen year old." She scolded, and he shook his head.

"How old _are_ you, anyway?"

"… none of your business."

"Uh-huh."

"… technically I'm twenty-two, but being the shapeshifter I am… I look like I'm about your age for quite a while. I might age a few more years by my thirties, though…" She answered awkwardly and avoiding his penetrating stare.

"So you've been seventeen for four years?"

"More or less. My family doesn't really pay attention to age as much as most, so we just kinda… I dunno. Go with the flow."

"Well then, Miss _exciting seventeen year-old_, what did you want to do when you graduated?" The tall male asked, poking at her arm while doing so. He watched her slim shoulders rise and fall, mimicking the shrug he did when he spoke.

"I didn't. Graduate, that is. My friend got me a nice paying job doing some internet marketing, and with my family moving so much, I didn't see the point in finishing high school." She said with excessive shrugging. Embry shrugged in return. She shrugged again.

"What did you want to be before you quit? What do you still want to do?"

Another shrug.

Shrug.

"I used to want to be a doctor, but when I realized that I actually had to study, I gave that up. I settled for traveling the world and becoming an awesome artist." She said with a small blush, and looked away.

"… you mentioned a while back that you love traveling… moving from one place to another is practically in your blood. Um…" He faltered slightly, and licked his lips as he thought about his wording. Cassie, usually impatient, now quietly licked at her ice cream cone and let her mind wander into its' own little world. "If you ever leave, I'll follow you. I mean, not in the creepy way, I mean, I'll travel anywhere and everywhere… if we're still together, that is. I don't care for traveling, but I'm sure that it wouldn't be too bad."

Cass took a second to look at the goofy teen, completely expressionless. After a moment of just staring, and making him progressively worried, a wide smile tugged at her lips. "All right." She said simply, and leaned back again to lick at her ice cream cone. Embry, sitting on the bench of the table while she sat on the actual table top, just stared at her.

"… Do you think we'll last?"

"As long as you don't get on my nerves, wolf boy." She said with a smirk, and barely contained her laughter when he made a face at her. A sudden squeal penetrated the air when the boy stood pushed her back onto the surface of the picnic table, both hands at her sides. He smirked down at her, hoping that that had gotten on her nerves to prove his point.

Ooooooh yes, he got on her nerves all right.

Eyes wide, she let out a half scream as she quickly tried to get the _freezing cold_ ice cream out of her cleavage, and push him away simultaneously. "Sorry, sorry!" He tried to brush off the sticky substance from her chest, but only got a slap in the face and kicked off of the table.

Contrary to her size, she was strong, and kicked him a good ten yards before he slammed into the ground. "Embry Call!" He winced at her tone, and started running as she darted after him, sticky cleavage and all.

**

* * *

**

"I can't believe you got me grounded, jerk."

"You deserved it, _freak_." She replied, and giggled as she jumped onto the couch, phone set securely against her ear. "That shirt is probably ruined now."

"I already apologized! I'm sorry! I didn't think you were such a butter fingers that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what did you say? You're trying to blame this on _me?_"

"You gloat about how strong and awesome you are- I thought you would have been able to avoid stuffing ice cream down your shirt."

"You bumped it with your chin!"

"…Can we just forget about this? Are you free to hang out after I get out from school tomorrow?" He asked, moving around as he spoke so that it was muffled on his end.

"Nah, I think I'm going to catch up on some work and whatnot. Besides, it would be better if it didn't end up like the other night when you stayed the night." She spoke, and reclined back on the couch to stare at the ceiling. "I can get in huge trouble for that shit, ya know."

"Yeah, yeah. Seth doesn't mind covering for me, though. And I can't sleep a good nights rest without you. You make me beautiful."

"Getting a little too fabulous there, Bry?"

"You can never be too fabulous~!" He said in the gayest voice he could muster, and she cracked up laughing. The male smiled to himself on the other end, relishing the sound of her laugh.

"You are coolest pet ever." She managed to say after a while, but then suddenly bit on her lip in pain. Her hand reached up and gripped her neck, rubbing the tender skin in circles. "So… um… what's going on with Quil and his girl?" The female asked as she got up off the couch and hurried to the bathroom.

"Quil is hanging out with her today… he's the official babysitter, now. Although…" He went on to talk about the situation, all the while Cass pulling off the scarf from around her neck to look at the wound. Before she looked in the mirror, she saw blood on her hand.

Her chest refused to heave air into her lungs.

Her eyes widened.

"Yeah and… are you still there? Hello?"

"… I… uh, let me, uh… call you back." She mumbled, and hung up the phone before tossing it onto the couch in the living room, which was connected to the bathroom and only a few yards away. She closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing.

One Mississippi…

Two Mississippi…

Three….

Four…

Five….

The leaky faucet spilled drop after drop of water.

One drop….

Two drops….

The almost white porcelain sink reflected and glowed from the lights above the mirror. The marble counter bent and crumpled like a candy wrapper under the grip of her right hand, and her talon like nails broke as they dug into the hard matter.

A burning fire like sensation emanated from the now open wound on the right side of her neck. It spread like someone had set off fireworks in her body. Little sparks of fire flew into her blood stream and pumped into her arm and chest.

Her eyes dared to look up, to look at the cracked mirror and see what was happening.

The vampire bite from two weeks ago had reopened.

"Mother fucker…" She muttered, and gasped for breath as more and more blood oozed from the wound.

"_I am. Not. A whore. I. am not. A whore."_ The phone sang in the other room, causing her to cough and crack a smile. The burning feeling started to cease, and it looked like the wound was starting to heal. (she hoped, anyway) An ashy, dark color started to replace the puffy red color around the bite mark.

"Damn it, Bry…" She muttered, and looked in the mirror again, to find what looked like an entirely different person. "Yuck… I hate blood… why can't we be filled with chocolate or something?"

* * *

"… that's not good." The vampire muttered, frowning deeply as he looked at the wound. His fingers gently touched the sensitive skin, but recoiled when she hissed in pain.

"This has never happened before. I've been bitten by you blood suckers plenty of times, and this has never happened. Maybe your other ability is poisonous poison… venom… things in your teeth." She grimaced, and looked at him. His eyes stayed glued to her neck, eyebrows furrowed, and she could see her reflection in those glossy orbs.

Her hair looked like crap.

"… you said it feels like the bite is shooting fire into you?" He asked, and she nodded, closing her eyes as a throng of pain ebbed across her chest.

"Yeah…"

"It looks like physical fire burned your skin… maybe your body took on too much venom and is trying to dispel it the only way it can- through burning it? Or maybe there's a chemical reaction occurring."

"Well what 'chemical' makes _your_ mouth explode in flames of fire?" She asked sarcastically, and sighed in relief when he stepped back and let her re-wrap the wound.

"Garlic."

"Tch, of course."

"Cass…" He started, actually staring into her eyes this time. She raised her eyebrows, not liking the tone in his voice, and waited for him to continue. "We need Carlisle to look at this."

"No."

"Cass-"

"No. Just having Edward know is bad enough, and if it gets to the werewolves that I'm visiting Carlisle-"

"We'll say you sprained your wrist."

"And what about when I go home with no brace?"

"You heal quickly."

"… we're not going to Carlisle. He freaks me out." At that, Jasper laughed, and walked to the other side of the room.

"You're not afraid of me, but you're-"

"I'm not _afraid_… just… he weirds me out, all right? Any vampire _that _comfortable with blood is creepy."


	4. Lady Gaga

**Part 4: Lady Gaga**

_Caught blue handed_**  
**

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Embry… what are you doing with my bra?" She spoke slowly, eyebrows raised at the strange man before her. Immediately after the female had entered the room, he had dropped the silky blue material and stared at her like a deer in headlights. He also, in those two seconds, didn't have time to turn off the cd player that was blasting Lady Gaga 'Bad Romance'.

"… nothing… a-aren't you supposed to be t-taking a shower?" He asked, voice shifting into an octave higher. Cassie just stood there, unable to create a coherent thought.

"_love, love, love I want your love…"_

"…"

"…"

"Let's have sex."

"I- w- what?" He squeaked.


	5. Shut Up

**Part 5****: It's raping time**

_Shut Up_**  
**

"Eeeeeeeeembryyyyy, stop picking at my hair. Pick your own." She whined with a wave of her hand, and then went back to pick at her nails. With a heavy sigh, the teenager behind her stopped, looked around them at the empty bleachers, and then went back to playing with her hair. "Emy…"

"Why is it that you can only think of girly names for me?" He asked as he gently twirled the strands of hair between his fingers.

"Why is it that people can only think of androgynous nicknames for me?"

"How is Aussie androgynous? It's 'girl' in Australia."

"Aussie sounds too much like Ass. When I think of Ass, I think of hookers and ass hole ex-boyfriends."

"Aussie makes me think of you in those stellar platform shoes and fabulous red dress." He whispered in her ear, attempting to be 'sexy'. She nodded, and then leaned back against his knees to get her face closer to his.

"Emy, dear, if you're trying to be sexy, don't use the words 'stellar' and 'fabulous' in the same sentence." She said with a smile, and patted the large man's knee before looking back at the crowd of people. Both of them sighed.

"Do you… want to dance?"

"Not really."

"… people are going to think we're weird for not dancing."

"Then let them." She smiled to him, and chuckled when his face turned to worry. "Embry, no one cares if you dance or not. Girlfriend or not. They're only going to think you're weird if you hang out with me the entire night without making out, or don't hang out with your friends. So, if you're so dead set on gaining their approval, then go talk to them, or make a pass at me." She explained, wincing slightly as the music blasted even louder- if that was possible- from the speakers across the room. After tonight, she was sure everyone would be deaf.

"If I do either of those, it'll seem like I'm using you. I just want to have a good time with the coolest, most beautiful girl in the world." Cassie gave him a half smile, and turned around in her spot, getting on her knees so that she could face him.

"Emy, Emy, what am I going to do with you?" She asked as she put her hands on the back of his neck, letting her arms rest on his shoulders and tilt her head to the side as she looked at him. He in turn put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

"I've got some ideas…" Embry spoke with a crooked smirk and wiggling eyebrows, making Cass roll her eyes and smack him across the head.

"Keep your head out of the gutter, mate. Now do you want to leave or stay here longer?"

"_You're_ the one that wanted me to make a pass at you."

"… shut up. Let's go."

"Shut up, and sleep with me-"

"No."

"Come on why don't you-"

"No."

"You are young, you're free~! Why don't-"

"I'm leaving."

"You sleep with _meeee_~!"

As she walked away, the wolf man tailed her while continually singing the song over and over again. The short shapeshifter attempted to block it out by covering her ears with her hands, but the attempt was proved futile when her boyfriend easily grabbed her wrists and held onto her hands.

"I refuse to perform sexual acts with an underaged-"

"Shuuuuuut up, and sleep with me-"

"Aaaass hoooole~!" She sang, and squealed when she was picked up from behind and practically carried out of the gymnasium. "Quil, help me!" She screamed over the speakers to the boy, but then stuck her tongue out at him when merely winked and saluted to Embry.


	6. Disease

**Author's note**: I forgot to mention that a few days pass between the chapters… so… don't be too confuzzled if it suddenly jumps and you're like, "what, that didn't happen!" … it did happen. In my mind, foo'.

* * *

**Part 6: Disease**

_Orange Fuzzy scarfs are never good_**  
**

";lkjsdfk…" She grumbled jargon as she turned under the bed sheets and pulled the pillow over her head. The cool air nipped at her skin as the sheets turned with her and left her legs. Immediately she pulled the pale blue fabric over them again, almost conscious enough to wonder where her pants were, but not quite.

The light from outside trespassed into her messy room and lit up the area. The pale walls seemed to glow and enhance the light in the room, making the pillow over her face seem useless.

The ever annoying _cell phone_ was the bigger problem. It rang and sang at her like a dying cat being stabbed by a plastic spoon. "Shut uuuuuup mutha fucka." She grumbled, and buried herself further into the sheets and pillow. The phone silenced, making the room deathly still.

She screamed when the familiar burning seeped into her veins and pulsed beneath her dark skin. Her body twisted and convulsed on the mattress until it eventually fell onto the ground. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she let out another short scream as fire crawled scratched at her bones and nipped at her muscles.

A few minutes later of gnawing on her arm to distract herself from the pain, the fire cooled to be replaced by an ash, gray looking color on her shoulder and chest. After it cooled, she dared look up at the ceiling and take in a breath of air.

As she lay gasping for breath, a loud knocking met her ears.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her eyes darted to the door.

Another loud knock.

"Cassie! Are you all right? I heard screaming!"

"Shit." She muttered, rolling onto her front and staggering to a standing position. "Nelly, I'm fine!" The female yelled at her neighbor between gasps of breath.

"What happened?"

She ran and opened the door, only letting her head poke out to see him, and smiled behind the strings of black hair blocking her vision. "Hey Nelly."

"What was the screaming about?" The short, lanky, bald man questioned as he attempted to peer into the apartment. He also noticed that the poor girl was shivering and sweating horribly, but that wasn't his business. His beady little eyes scanned the woman's face, the shaking door, and whatever else he thought might indicate what happened.

"Cramps." She blurted, trying to ignore how inexplicably shiny his head was. "Really, _really_ bad cramps. My uterus was just shootin' out blood and my ovaries were just-"

"A'right, a'right! I see that you're fine! Go back to sleep or do whatever… you were… doing…." The blushing old man said hurriedly and quickly scampered away as fast as he had arrived. He hobbled down the hallway with his crutch, going up and down like a duck bobbing in water.

Smiling at her victory, she closed the door laughing as she went back to her bedroom. On her nightstand the phone began screeching again, and not wanting any more unexpected visitors, answered it.

"Yeah?" Cassie snapped fervently.

"Cas, it's me Jasper. Look, Carlisle got the test results of the bite back."

She walked into the bathroom and pulled her shirt off as she listened, getting a good look at the increasing damage. "So what's the results, doc?" The female asked in a 'bugs bunny' voice.

"Never impersonate a cartoon again." She rolled her eyes. "Cass it has cancer like qualities. Carlisle thinks it's eating at your tissue in order to sustain itself; ully people are turned into vampires when they're bitten, but maybe because you've been bitten so many times by different powerful vampires, your body is attacking the poison like always. Maybe it… is attacking my venom the same way it attacked the others, but it's not working and only slowing it down and killing you in the process."

"Are you saying it's turning me into a vampire?" She brushed her fingers across the gray ashen skin, spreading along her right shoulder and into her arm, into her right breast and across her collar bone, and creeping upward into her jaw line. Even if she wore a turtle neck now, the gray lines would be very visible on her face.

"You can't be turned into a vampire because of the way you change into a hawk. Having your tissue turn solid like ours would make you unable to shapeshift, which is part of your molecular structure. So no, you're not turning into a vampire."

"Then what is happening?"

"… Carlisle couldn't conclude anything from the test results, except that it's alive and it's some kind of cancer-like virus. In the sample we also found dead cells and compared it to tissue from the unaffected skin."

"… and?"

"It's killing you, Cass."

"Jasper, changing into my hawk form and sprouting god damn feathers has killed off most the nerves in my body. Compared to a regular person I can only feel half of what they feel, and thus everything is dull. It's possible that-"

"Cassie those cells are _dead_. You said yourself that you cannot feel _anything_ when you touch the infected area."

The girl frowned and bit her lip, scratching her nails against the surface of the grayed skin. The dark substance bent to her fingers and bounced back as soon as it left, leaving a trail of dead shavings behind. "It's peeling."

"… I'm sorry, Cassie."

"Do you have any good news ass hole?"

"It's possible that you'll naturally develop an anti-body that will kill off the virus and leave you to be your normal self."

"This doesn't look natural, man. Any 'natural' healing doesn't seem to be in effect."

"… the only way to kill a vampire is by burning it. Maybe you're trying to kill it?"

"Tch."

"Carlisle wants to look at it again. Maybe we can figure out some kind of cure or medicine of sorts that can kill off the venom without further damaging yourself."

"'cause that'll help." She muttered as she flipped the phone shut and tossed it onto the couch. Scrunching up her nose in disgust, she got closer to the mirror to take a closer look.

Rubbing in a small area, she started peeling away at the strange substance. Getting deeper and deeper into her arm, eventually a small indent was visible on her skin. No blood spooled out, no color appeared. Next, she pulled a razor from the small basket in the side of the shower, and faced the mirror again. Bracing the dented and ruined counter again, she put the blade to the dent on her ashen skin, and pushed it along the surface. The texture and way it cut reminded her somehow of cutting an orange, how the end result was a gushy piece of skin that could probably peel off to reveal a juicy center.

She would have pulled at the new slice… if she was suicidal and not squeamish in the slightest.

Near throwing up, she threw the razor into the bathtub and attempted at taking deep breaths. An almost black liquid edged slowly from the wound, and stopped moving after crawling an inch.

It left a dark trail of slime after it, as if a slug had slid its way out of the wound instead of 'blood'. Only the dented part 'bled', while the other quarter of an inch of dead skin remained dry.

"… I prefer to get a regular STD from the fucker… instead I had to get an incurable, painful, _vampire_ disease. _Great_.

* * *

"Why are you wearing a scarf? It's so fuzzy and doesn't match… _anything_." The male said with disgust as he stared at the atrocity, his nose scrunched up as if it gave a horrendous smell worse than vampire stench. He made a move to remove it, but she smacked his hand away.

"I _like_ this article of clothing, thank you very much."

"I'm sorry, but it looks stupid."

"Hey! My aunt gave this to me." She defended as she backed away from him.

"You don't have an aunt and you hate the color orange." He stated confidently as he followed her.

"I love the color orange and she's my spirit aunt."

"You hate the color orange and 'spirit aunt' my ass."

"Language, little man. I'm really starting to rub off on you." She said with a smirk, but it disappeared when she realized he'd cornered her into the back of the couch.

"You're going to have to come up with another insult once I turn eighteen in two weeks."

"What are you talking about? You'll always be my _little man_." She said while pinching his cheek, but with a turn of his head her hand was caught between his teeth.

"Don't call me 'little man', _mother_. Now get dressed so we can leave for the party."

"Do we have to go? I love you pack, but… they're kind of annoying after a while." She said with a pout, letting her hands wander across his chest and to his shoulders.

"They're my brothers… but if you want to do something else _instead_…"

"Why is that you're pressuring me, Embry Call? No respect to your elders, tsk tsk."

"Well you did it with a vampire, why not me?"

_What did he just say?_

Her shoulders tensed, eyes hardened, jaw tightened as she tilted her head to the side. It took them both a moment to freeze and take in what was just said, and for Embry to realize he had two seconds to fix it. "… I meant that to be a joke." He didn't fix it.

"I'm laughing on the inside." She stated coldly as she pushed him back and walked towards the bedroom.

"Cassie I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry! The guys have just been hassling me lately and-"

"Fuck you. And get _out_." She said was reeled and turned on him. "I said get OUT!"

The clumsy teenager stumbled backwards and reached blindly for the door, eyes frantically staring into hers. "I didn't mean it, I-"

"Are you deaf?"

"Listen, I-"

"Bugger off!"

"You're my imprint partner, I love you!"

She slammed the door in his face.


	7. Trickery

**Part 7: Trickery**

_The End_**  
**

"Why am I here?" Cass asked the group of shapeshifters, eyeing each of the tall men except Embry. "Quil said there would be pie."

"I lied." He said with a wide, wolfish grin. "You need a convention."

"_Intervention_." Jake coughed.

"Whatever."

"We're here to explain what imprinting is, since you have no idea about it and you won't give Embry the chance to explain." Sam spoke, watching as she tried to stand and leave, but Leah grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "Imprinting is how we… mate, pretty much. We only have one partner, and-"

"I know what imprinting is. It's that whole 'love at first sight' schpiel."

"It's _more_ than that-"

"So?"

"You're the only one for him. He won't move on because he _can't_."

"Well I can, so bugger off."

"Don't talk about him like that!" Jake yelled as he stood, pointing at the calm girl while his fists shook wildly. The bones beneath his skin moved and crawled, as if their were large insects migrating across his body. "Stop treating my friend like crap! You've been torturing him for a week and-"

"Jake!" Embry yelled as he grabbed onto the man's shoulder and pulled him back.

"You're going to let her treat you like this?" He demanded, narrowing his eyes at the shorter male.

"We can't keep ourselves from imprinting- I've tried. You're his only love." Sam stated, trying to ignore Leah's expression and the two werewolves about to duke it out.

"And why do you mate like this?" She asked simply, eyes partially lidded as if suddenly bored.

"We're not sure. We have a few theories, one of them being that we're attracted to those most fertile and it's a way to reproduce, but when Embry imprinted on you that was tossed out."

"Why can't you just forgive him and talk about it? You hating him is killing him!" Jake blurted as he pulled his shoulder away from his friend.

"Jake just shut up!"

Cassie finally stood and looked Jake in the eye, ignoring the bulging muscles and fierce gaze.

"Shut up and keep your nose in your own business, dog humper."

He punched her in the face and she spun to the ground. One after another Jake, Embry, Sam and Leah burst into their wolf forms and started fighting or trying to break up the fight. Quil stayed in his human form and decided to help the fallen teenager, but she sat up and insisted she was fine, swiping away at his hand. "That was a pretty nasty punch." He commented as his eyes watched blood leak from her nose.

"I'll live." She muttered, and jumped from her spot and away from Quil.

"Cass-" He spoke as he reached for her, but missed when she didn't stop. It took him a second to register that she was now not just walking, but full blown running in the other direction. "Cassie!" He started jogging after her, but it proved useless when she jumped off of the nearby cliff and transformed into her hawk form.

She turned from the nose dive and tried to steer herself away from the rocks she came too close to smashing into, and attempted to go back over the cliff and fly over the trees.

* * *

Eventually she made her way over to the highway, over some meandering roads and kept flying. Her eyes searched the pavement for the jeep she knew would be parked, and after about twenty minutes, she spotted it.

When she flew down, the vampire looked up and raised his eyebrows at her. "I thought you were going to ditch me. I've been waiting for a half hour." He whined, and stepped away from the jeep as the bird crash landed into the vehicle. "… Ya know, you shouldn't drink while you drive, and you shouldn't fly while you're drunk, either."

The animal didn't bother retaliating, and instead just rolled over and sat up to stand on her feet, looking at her surroundings.

"I'll have to get Rosalie to help fix it. You scratched the paint and dented the metal… And you brought company." Right after he spoke a large gray wolf jumped out from the trees and landed in the middle of the road. It bared it's teeth dangerously at the vampire, brown eyes challenging the golden ones that stared back. "I don't want any trouble." He spoke calmly with his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

Jasper sensed that the wolf was angry, but he underestimated it and didn't have enough time to calm him down. Embry launched himself at the vampire and, on instinct, Cassie flew in the way in attempt to block him.

_That_ was where it went wrong.

Embry had only meant to lightly grab Cass to get her away from the fight. What he didn't mean to do was snap his large canines at her, inconsequentially grinding her bones between his teeth and tossing it to the side like a chewed up seed. After she was out of the way, he quickly lunged at the vampire and snapped at him; but before he could land a blow, he stopped.

The furry creature froze in place, eyes wide in horror, jaw slacked open and drool dripping onto Jasper's face. The contacts used to cover the vampire's red eyes were now gone. Both didn't move, Jasper in fear of provoking another attack and Embry in pure shock at what he'd done.

After a moment of just staring at each other, Embry jumped off of the vampire and turned back into his human form, running over to the bleeding girl on the side of the road. Blood oozed from the naked body, crimson staining her dark skin and pooling around her flesh. "No…" Embry choked as ran over to her. "Cass!" He turned her onto her back so that he could see the damage.

Jasper got up and took his jacket off to place on the shivering female.

She gasped for breath as she shook and trembled beneath them. The grayed skin along her chest had spread further than Jasper had remembered, and reached all the way down to her waist and covered half of her face.

The freezing cold body convulsed again as she grasped for breath. Jasper quickly called Carlisle and then pushed Embry to the side. "Cass! Cass, Carlisle will be here soon- you need to calm down. Stay awake, but calm down. Focus on me, only me."

Embry reached for her hand and bowed his head as tears fell down his face. He muttered apologies and repeated them over and over again as he looked at her through blurred eyes.

_Embry…_

* * *

Minutes later it was over.

Jasper pulled back and stood up, shaking from what just happened. The emotions of Embry and the other wolf pack members were too much, and his only option was to leave. He backed away from the scene and tore his eyes away from the bloody, lifeless body, then bolted in the opposite direction to the Cullen Manor.

Embry sobbed as he sat there, completely oblivious to anyone else around him. Jake, Sam, and Leah had been in a circle around Cass when she had fallen, but when they heard her heart stop beating, they stepped back and walked away. They watched painfully as their brother mourned for his imprint's death.

Her eyes stared blankly upwards, no life left in them as they stayed in place. The blood continued trickling to the ground even after her heart stopped beating.

Embry's hands were soaked in blood, and the blood from when he crushed her ribcage remained on his lips.

From afar his pack members watched… not sure what to do, and when they should pull him away. After a good ten minutes, Jacob got the courage to walk forward and gently pull him back.

That was about when Carlisle arrived. It didn't take him very long to realize that he was too late and that it was over. Glancing for approval from the pack members, he walked passed the sobbing male and knelt down next to Cassie. He checked for a pulse, though he already knew there wasn't one. He went to try and do CPR, but once he realized that most of the damage was done to her chest and would mostly likely collapse it entirely if he tried, he didn't bother.

Her skin was cold and had been for a while.

He placed his thumb and forefinger on her eyelids and pulled them down. His eyes wandered to the gray matter covering her skin, and shook his head. "She was dying anyway… this was probably better."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked as he stepped forward, head down and eyes averted.

"She was too stubborn to tell anyone… but she was infected with virus. At most she probably had a couple weeks left before it killed her."

"A virus?" He asked, and Carlisle nodded. "… that explains why she's been so… off, lately…"

"I'll call local authorities soon… and someone is bound to drive by."

Her right arm twitched. All of them looked at her.

"Don't get your hopes up." He assured them, seeing this happen before and not wanting it to happen again.

Her fingers twitched. Her toes curled.

"Jake get Embry away from here." Carlisle told him, but as soon as the words left his mouth the shapeshifter was by the woman's body again.

"You're not dead, you're not dead. Baby, come back!"

The blood that had spooled in the back of her throat and dripped down the sides of her face gurgled. "Come back!" Her eyes flew open and with a start she sat up and started coughing up the dark liquid. The numb organ in her chest started to slowly beat again, and the steady beat starting accelerating as adrenaline reentered her veins.

"Cass!"

She grimaced and cried out in pain. Embry held her in his arms and Carlisle had to pry them away from each other to get a good look at her injuries.

"I'm so sorry Cass, I never meant to hurt you, I-"

"Shut up!" She said through clenched teeth, and managed a small smile against the pain. He smiled back.


	8. Hospital

**Part 8: Hospital**

_Shrugs are fantastic, bitches_**  
**

"How am I doc?" The woman whispered from her bed, trying not to wake the boy sleeping at her side. Carlisle smiled and walked to the other side of her bed.

"Because you heal so quickly, you should be out of here within a few days. Jasper's venom seems to have stopped spreading as well."

"… what? How is that?"

"It looks like you'll have scarring from it for a while, but it hasn't spread at all the past two days and I don't think it ever will. Either you kicked in some natural antibiotics or the virus died when your heart stopped."

"… huh."

Suddenly the tanned boy sat up, dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. His gaze immediately darted to the mummy looking girl on the bed. His hands rubbed and tightened around her hand. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Embry. Calm down." She assured, but the assurance changed nothing. He still stared at her as if she was a ghost, like she was only a figment of his imagination.

"Do you need anything? I can-"

"You seem to be in good care. I'll be back to check on you in the morning. Stay bright and cheery, and get lots of rest."

"Meh, meh." She grumbled, and the doctor chuckled as he left the room. Once he was gone, she looked at the sick puppy at her side.

"Are you hungry? Are you in any pain? I-"

"Embry," She said as she put her fingers to his lips. "Shut up, you already slept with me."

"… what?"

"You were sleeping. I was sleeping."

"… oh."

She winked at the sorry sod, and pressed her lips against his. When she pulled away, she stared into his eyes. "Bite me like that again and I'll have to kick your sorry ass, _little man._."

"'little man'? Still?"

"I'll change it later when you're officially eighteen."

He grumbled something unintelligible in return and rubbed his face with his hand.

"How comfy is that chair?"

"It's fine."

"No, come on." She scooted away from him, and patted the space beside her. "lay down you git."

"Meh, meh." He responded with a shrug.

She shrugged back.

He shrugged again.

She stuck her tongue at him and threw one of her 'get well' cards at him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, I told you it was random... This is just one of those story ideas that accumulates in my mind for like, weeks, and then suddenly I'm like, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. MUST. TYPE. THIIIIS." So, I did. This is I think the second longest story I've been able to write... But it's still really short. Sorry about that. I probably won't continue past this... but who knows. I might get a random urge to update it, like my Seth story... any who. (I'm also doing it with a Gaara story as well... for some reason...)

I realize that it steadily gets more and more dialogue-y by the end, and that's because I wanted to finish this soooo bad, but I was getting tired of writing *fairly* well and in *moderate* detail.

Hope you enjoyed what little you read. If you did, 'fave' this story or whatnot so I can be all giddy for the rest of the day that someone read something of mine. If you didn't like it, I'm sorry for wasting your time. XD


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